Tanking

Guardian is the easiest to use because Defensios taunt must hit the boss and their bubble has a smaller range while Guards have a ranged taunt and long-ranged bubble. Destroyers can taunt but their bubble has a 60 second cool down vs. Guard's 5 seconds. However, all classes can tank and are viable in skilled hands, but Guardian is definitely easier to use due to the above advantages and having access to Block and Stance of Faith.

From my experience, tanking is different from playing a DPS role but not necessarily harder. Yes, normal hits will not damage you as much but many mechs will wipe you and some attacks still hit like a truck in certain content, which means evasion and I-frame use is important. On Defensios and Guards, you also have the option to block attacks. You have to keep track of bubbles on you and your party so you don't waste the stacks. Finally, you have to decide whether to DPS or to support because at least for Guardians, they can't do both at the same time. Maintaining aggro on bosses (if you can, some bosses ignore it) is important because it makes your party's job easier. Crudelis in RDN come to mind where he attacks with fire and ice across the map unless a tank provokes, which then he will aim at the tank only, and even Crusaders can use Divine Avatar to I-frame the whole mech.

Playstyle-wise, I like having the choice to go offensive or defensive. You can sit around in Stance of Faith all day but realistically you're going to be using other attacks, and I prefer to block right as the boss hits. The basic tanking rotation:

Bubble Provoke Position self between wall and boss Maintain aggro, bubble and good position as needed DPS in meantime

You will also have to know emergency panic buttons in the case of a mech mistakes in nest or raid, such as ironwill + shield charge for dmg reduction where and iframe would fail.

Gearing a tank is cheap because less people play supports than DPSers. You can build for vit or damage because Guardians have good burst for those "damage the boss as much as possible" mechs.

In nests you don't see many tanks because its only 4-man, but you definitely see them in raids. Dont let that discourage you; not many people main a tank so that's why they don't appear in nests often. My guard is my secondary, as i call it.

In the case of Daidalos HC, most people want a healer because it's easy to lose HP in that nest and attacks hit hard even with bubble. If you take a tank instead, the other members should know the mechs well, be skilled dodgers and/or well-geared. Then there is the tank, healer + 2 DPS combo which is a guaranteed clear (just takes longer LOL).

A good tank is valuable and many people underestimate their support capabilities. The aggro control and incoming damage reduction make a difference. Realistically, most people prefer to raid with a tank. I would love to see more tanks especially for the Nightmare Dungeons.

/r/DragonNest Thread